Profiles in Cowardice: Marty Golden

Agree with the state senator from Bay Ridge or not (and we certainly do not), nobody’s happy about his cowardly abstention from a hard vote. Criticism has been mounting—including handed-out fliers like the one above—from right and left since Golden missed a vote two weeks ago on “microstamping” that would have “require[d] semiautomatic handguns made and sold in New York to have unique identifying information on spent shells,” Bay Ridge Interpolexplains.

Golden stepped out of the chamber to take a phone call, standing in the hallway while he was called upon to vote. The bill failed, and now criminals can go back to shooting Golden’s old cop-colleagues with anonymity!

As Atlas Shrugged in Brooklynexplains, the measure was staunchly opposed by the gun lobby, but strongly supported by law enforcement. What’s a good conservative politician, especially an ex-cop, to do? Stand against his old buddies? Not bow down to the NRA?

He did what any smart politician would do—he got the hell out of there. Isn’t that the kind of leadership Brooklyn needs?